Our children are Judaism’s most important resource and our hopes and dreams for our Jewish future. Our Temple family is dedicated to building a warm, comfortable and positive climate of Jewish experiences and learning for our students. Parents are the essential ingredient necessary to make our efforts successful. Please join us in this endeavor!
The Temple Educational Program Goals
At the Temple, the goal of Jewish education is the deepening of Jewish experiences and knowledge in order to strengthen faith in God, love of the Torah, and the identification with the Jewish people through involvement at The Temple and participation in Jewish life. To achieve this, The Temple uses the ISJL Education Curriculum, a spiraled curriculum.
In a spiraled curriculum, students revisit 10 key content areas with increased sophistication as they progress through it. The continually updated curriculum not only adds new content but also ensures that the current best practices in education and the ever-evolving pedagogical understanding are included.
The 10 key content areas are: Community, Culture and Symbols, God, Hebrew and Prayer, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Holidays, Jewish Lifecycle Events, Mitzvot and Jewish Values, and TaNaKh (Torah, Prophets, and Writings).
Developmentally appropriate, the ISJL Education Curriculum nurtures each student’s identity, enabling him or her to live meaningful and rich lives. Each grade level provides 30, two-hour lessons that include Hebrew and a variety of activities that implements the lesson while understanding each student has a different learning style. Therefore, each lesson utilizes visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning activities throughout it.
We believe that Judaism contains answers to the challenges and questions confronting us daily and that only a knowledgeable Jew can successfully discover these answers. Linked to these goals, the Institute for Southern Jewish Life curriculum for grades K-9 embrace experiences and learning activities encouraging children, youth, and adults to become:
1. Jews who affirm their Jewish identity and bind themselves inseparably to their people by word and deed.
2. Jews who bear witness to the brit (Covenant between God and the Jewish people) by embracing Torah through the study and observance of Mitzvot (Commandments) as interpreted in the light of historic development and contemporary thought.
3. Jews who affirm their historical bond with Eretz Yisrael, the State of Israel.
4. Jews who cherish and study Hebrew, the language of the Jewish people.
5. Jews who value and practice T’fila (Prayer).
6. Jews who further the causes of justice, freedom, and peace by pursuing tzedek (righteousness), mishpat (justice), and chesed (loving deeds).
7. Jews who celebrate Shabbat and the festivals and observe the Jewish ceremonies marking the significant occasions in their lives.
8. Jews who have esteem for themselves and others; their own family and the family of others; and their own community and the community of others.
9. Jews who express their kinship with K’lal Yisrael by actively seeking the welfare of Jews throughout the world.
10. Jews who support and participate in Temple life. Such Jews will strengthen the fabric of Jewish life, ensure the future of Judaism and the Jewish people, and approach the realization of their divine potential.
Youth and Family Resources
For more information, contact our Director of Education Rabbi Shulman at rabbishulman@templenashville.org
